When the ball left Carl Crawford’s bat, Jeff Francoeur thought it was going over the short wall in right field. And he was prepared to go into the stands after it.

Francoeur turned his back to the plate and headed for the fence, only to turn around after the ball got caught in the breeze and make a basket catch that ended Boston’s final threat Thursday.

“Good thing there’s no Green Monster in right field,” Francoeur said, “or we’d be talking about a 5-4 Red Sox win.”

Instead, Joakim Soria retired Yamaico Navarro for the final out, and the Kansas City Royals left Boston with 4-3 victory over the Red Sox. Billy Butler homered for the third straight game and Luke Hochevar pitched seven strong innings to help the Royals, last in the AL Central, split the four-game series with the AL East-leading Red Sox.

Hochevar (7-8) allowed two runs on six hits and a walk while matching his season high for strikeouts with six. He retired 14 of the last 16 batters he faced and gave up just one extra-base hit, a third-inning double by Navarro.

“He was dynamite,” manager Ned Yost said. “Just dynamite.”

Hochevar left with a 4-2 lead, and Dustin Pedroia led off the eighth with a high home run over the Green Monster on a 3-2 pitch from Greg Holland. But Holland got Adrian Gonzalez, Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz on groundouts to end the inning, and Soria came on to pitch the ninth.

With one out, Drew Sutton lined a hit off Soria’s glove for a single, then pinch hitter Crawford hit a long fly ball to the warning track in right.

“I thought it was gone,” Francoeur said. “That’s why I put my head down and just started running. … I wasn’t worried about catching it. I was thinking about getting back to the wall.”

Francoeur turned around and caught it in the middle of the warning track, and Soria struck out Navarro to earn his 19th save.

“I was getting up to celebrate,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. “I thought he got plenty, then the wind knocked it down.”

Josh Beckett (9-4) lost for the first time in a month, giving up four runs — three earned — on five hits and three walks while striking out eight. The Red Sox had won six of their past seven games to move to a season-high three games ahead of the second-place New York Yankees in the AL East before Thursday’s loss.

Boston took a 2-0 lead in the third when Jason Varitek singled, Navarro doubled and they both scored on a single by Jacoby Ellsbury. But the Royals went ahead in the fourth when Beckett gave up back-to-back walks to start the inning and Butler followed with his 10th homer of the season, to straightaway center field.

After Francoeur reached on a two-base error, Beckett gave up Mike Moustakas’ RBI double to make it 4-2.

Pedroia led off the eighth inning with a home run over the Green Monster to cut the lead to one run and extend his hitting streak to 25 games; he has reached base in 37 consecutive games.

— Associated Press —

John Lackey can appreciate his teammates’ offense even more with the struggles he’s gone through this season.

David Ortiz hit a grand slam to cap a five-run fourth inning and Dustin Pedroia extended his career-best hitting streak to 24 games with a solo homer, carrying the Boston Red Sox to another big offensive night with a 12-5 win over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday.

Jacoby Ellsbury homered leading off the first inning and Pedroia followed with his homer for the Red Sox, who won for the 19th time in 23 games and scored in double digits for the second straight game.

“That’s one of the reasons I came here,” Lackey said when asked what it’s like watching the top of Boston’s offense — mainly Ellsbury and Pedroia — hitting the way they are recently. “I didn’t get a lot of that in Anaheim. Jacoby’s having a great season, he’s getting a little of everything and (Pedroia) is on fire.”

Pedroia, who went 4 for 5 in Tuesday’s 13-9 win, added two singles and a sacrifice fly, Ellsbury had three hits to increase his average to .325 and Adrian Gonzalez had three hits and three RBIs to raise his major-league leading total to 87.

Lackey (9-8) won his fourth straight start, allowing four runs — three earned — and 11 hits, walking one and striking out three in 5 2/3 innings. Before the current run, his ERA was 7.47 and he was the object of the fans’ ire during rough starts.

But he’s turned it around and the offense has been there for him, too, scoring six and seven runs, respectively, in his previous two starts.

“I don’t think anybody would complain about sitting around and watching guys score runs,” he said.

Eric Hosmer hit a three-run homer and Billy Butler added a solo shot for the Royals.

Like Tuesday’s loss, Kansas City blew an early lead. After Hosmer’s homer put the Royals up 3-0 in the first, Boston scored two runs in the bottom of the inning and three in the second before breaking it open in the fourth against starter Bruce Chen (5-4).

Boston had 16 hits, reaching double digits for the 11th straight home game.

It was the first time Boston’s first two batters homered since July 21, 1995.

Ellsbury’s caromed off the Pesky Pole in right and Pedroia hit his into the Green Monster seats, extending his career-best streak, the longest by a second baseman in club history.

“We started out in the game and we’re down 3-0 and that’s not an easy way to play,” Boston manager Terry Francona said. “We get the two home runs and ‘OK, we’re right back.”

In the second, Ellsbury drew a bases-loaded walk, Pedroia had a sacrifice fly and Gonzalez’s run-scoring grounder made it 5-3.

The Red Sox broke it open with the five-run fourth that was highlighted by Ortiz’s slam. Pedroia, Gonzalez and Kevin Youkilis singled before Ortiz belted his 10th career slam — ninth with the Red Sox — over Boston’s bullpen, tying him with Rico Petrocelli for second all-time in club history behind Ted Williams’ 17. Yamaico Navarro had an RBI single earlier in the inning.

“A pitcher would rather walk you than make a mistake that leads to four runs,” Ortiz said. “You have to be ready for (a mistake).”

And he certainly looked like he was.

“We were still in that game, but when Papi hit that home run, it kind of took the life out of us,” Royals right fielder Jeff Francoeur said. “That’s what he does.”

With the slam, Ortiz reached 1,000 RBIs with Boston.

Chen was tagged for 10 runs and 10 hits in four innings, throwing 114 pitches in his brief outing.

“He wasn’t anywhere near as sharp,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He really struggled to command the strike zone, had 114 pitches after four innings and just couldn’t command the ball and throw it where he wanted to. Bruce is usually pretty good at doing that.”

Bulter’s homer made it 10-4 in the fifth.

— Associated Press —

David Ortiz had four hits and five RBIs, and Dustin Pedroia had four of Boston’s 16 hits Tuesday night to lead the Red Sox to a 13-9 victory over the Kansas City Royals, their 18th win in 22 games.

Hours after the teams took a 1-1 pitcher’s duel into the 14th inning and finished up at 1:59 a.m., they combined for 31 hits and 22 runs against nine pitchers — including Royals outfielder Mitch Maier, who threw a scoreless inning.

Alfredo Aceves (6-1) threw 3 1/3 scoreless innings in relief to improve to 20-2 in his career. Nathan Adcock (1-1) got just one out for the Royals, allowing three earned runs, three hits and three walks as Boston scored six times in the fifth inning to turn a back-and-forth game into a blowout.

— Associated Press —

The Boston Red Sox botched a suicide squeeze in extra innings and gave Kansas City another chance to win. The Royals messed up their squeeze attempt, too, and still managed to score the game-winning run.

Eric Hosmer doubled to lead off the 14th inning and scored when Mike Aviles bunted the ball over the head of charging first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, giving Kansas City a 3-1 victory over Boston on Monday night. The play was supposed to be a safety squeeze but Hosmer and Jeff Francoeur, who was on first, mistakenly ran on the pitch.

“I wasn’t supposed to be running. Hosmer wasn’t supposed to break. We all kind of messed up, but it worked out,” Francoeur said. “It could have been a triple play.”

Louis Coleman (1-2) went two innings and twice pitched out of jams for the win. Joakim Soria struck out three in the bottom of the 14th to earn his 18th save and send Boston to just its fourth loss in 21 games.

The Red Sox threatened to score five times in the last six innings, but the Royals made their best chance count. Hosmer doubled off Randy Williams (0-1) to start the 14th, but he was held at third when Francoeur singled.

Aviles came to the plate and squared to bunt as the runners took off and the corner infielders charged in. He popped it up but it landed safely behind Gonzalez and out of the reach of second baseman Dustin Pedroia, who was moving over to cover first.

Hosmer scored, and Francoeur came home on a sacrifice fly by Alcides Escobar to make it 3-1.

“We caught a break,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “If Frenchie (Francoeur) doesn’t break — and he wasn’t supposed to — Gonzalez doesn’t break. We finally got to run the play we don’t have much time to practice — we bunt over the first baseman’s head with runners running.”

The Red Sox kept it interesting when Josh Reddick doubled — his third hit of the game — with one out in the bottom of the 14th. But Soria struck out Jarrod Saltalamacchia and then Marco Scutaro to end it — thanks in part to a pregame rain delay of 2 hours, 21 minutes — at 1:59 a.m. Tuesday.

Melky Cabrera had four hits and Hosmer had three for the Royals, who won for the fifth time in six games. It was their 10th extra-inning victory — most in the AL, according to STATS Inc.

The Red Sox had their chances.

Reddick singled to lead off the 12th and then, with one out, took two bases on an errant pickoff throw. But he was hung up between third and home after Scutaro never squared around to bunt on the suicide squeeze that had been called.

“I just didn’t see the sign,” Scutaro said. “My fault. I didn’t see the sign.”

Scutaro then lined a hit to left and was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double. In the 13th, Jacoby Ellsbury drew a leadoff walk and, one out later, Gonzalez hit a sinking liner that bounced under Francoeur’s glove as he came in for it; only his leg kept it from going off the wall. Ellsbury wound up at third, and Gonzalez at first.

Again, Coleman pitched out of it. The fifth of six Kansas City pitchers, he went two innings and allowed three hits and a walk.

“I would say right about now they’re probably kicking themselves because they missed a lot of chances,” Francoeur said.

Jon Lester made his first start since July 5, when he left a no-hitter after four innings with a strained muscle in his back, and pitched 5 1/3 strong innings. He shut out the Royals until Cabrera led off the sixth with a single and scored to make it 1-1 when Billy Butler’s double rattled around in the left-field corner.

— Associated Press —

A finger blister, not the Kansas City Royals, knocked Tampa Bay rookie Alex Cobb out of the game Sunday.

He curbed the Royals on six singles in seven scoreless innings and Ben Zobrist had three hits and drove in two runs to help the Rays beat Kansas City 5-0 on Sunday.

Cobb threw 65 strikes in 81 pitches, but developed a small blister in the seventh inning that led to Rays manager Joe Maddon going to his bullpen. “It’s unfortunate because his pitch limit was in great shape,” Maddon said. “He had plenty left in the tank.”

Cobb (3-0) struck out two and walked none to pick up the victory and lowered his earned run average to 2.57. He has allowed one earned run in 13 innings in two starts since being recalled July 18.

Relievers Cesar Ramos, Joel Peralta and Jake McGee held the Royals to one hit the final two innings to finish off the Rays’ eighth shutout of the season.

“It was a big disappointment,” Cobb said of the blister. “I wanted to throw at least eight innings, maybe nine. We’re short in bullpen. I would have liked to have been able to help that out.”

It is uncertain whether the blister will prevent Cobb from making his start Saturday at Seattle. What is certain is he won’t be going back to the minors. This is Cobb’s third stint this season with the Rays. He said he used to sit at his locker wondering whether he would be tapped on the shoulder and told to report to Maddon’s office for another trip to Triple-A Durham.

“I’ll keep a lookout after every outing, but seven shutout innings never hurts your cause,” Cobb said.

Cobb, a 2006 fourth-round pick, is unbeaten in his first seven major league starts, the first Rays pitcher to accomplish that.

“This is why we went to a six-man (rotation),” Maddon said. “This is the exact reason. You can’t do it unless you have a pitcher that is that effective and big league-ready and Alex is. There’s no tapping on the shoulder.”

When Cobb gave up two singles to lead off the sixth and seventh innings, he quickly worked out of the jams.

“No panic,” Maddon said. “He threw strikes, let the defense play. He made the hitters swing the bat, wasn’t walking people and getting into bad counts. That’s why he was able to get through that relatively easy.”

The Rays scored two runs with two out in the sixth on one hit, a Sam Fuld single, three hit batters and a walk. After Fuld’s hit, Felipe Paulino hit Sean Rodriguez and Desmond Jennings with pitches to load the bases. Blake Wood replaced Paulino and walked Johnny Damon, scoring Fuld. Wood hit Zobrist with a pitch to bring home Rodriguez.

Paulino (1-4), who lost for the fourth time in his past five starts, gave up four runs on seven hits, while walking two and striking out six.

The Rays scored a pair of runs in the third with Evan Longoria driving in Damon with a single. Matt Joyce’s sacrifice fly scored Zobrist with the other run.

Cobb did not allow a runner past first base until the sixth when Matt Treanor and Chris Getz led off with singles. Eric Hosmer and Mitch Maier opened the seventh with singles, but Mike Aviles grounded into a double play.

“We just didn’t come to play today,” Royals leftfielder Alex Gordon said. “I don’t say this a lot, but we deserved to lose. We didn’t do much. We just didn’t show up to play.”

The loss snapped the Royals’ four-game winning streak, matching their longest of the season. The Royals have not had a winning streak of five or more games since Sept. 7-11, 2009 when they won five straight.

Joakim Soria was at his best when the Kansas City Royals needed it most on Saturday night.

Soria worked out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the 10th and Eric Hosmer doubled home the winning run in the bottom of the inning and the Royals rallied for a 5-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Royals have won four straight to match their season-high winning streak.

The Rays loaded the bases in the 10th with none out, but failed to score.

Rookie Aaron Crow, the Royals’ representative at the All-Star game, began the inning by walking Evan Longoria and B.J. Upton. He was replaced by Soria, who gave up a single to Matt Joyce to load the bases.

Soria (5-3) got Casey Kotchman on a comebacker, forcing out Longoria at home. He struck out pinch hitter Sam Fuld and Elliot Johnson looking to end the 10th.

“You can’t say enough about Soria, the job he did,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “Bases loaded, nobody out and that’s why he’s so great. He doesn’t get flustered. He doesn’t panic. He just continues to make pitches and got us out of it and put us in a spot where we could win. This is probably as excited as I’ve been for a win all year.”

Mike Moustakas, who drove in the first three Kansas City runs, knew Soria was going to work out of the jam.

“When you’ve got a guy on the mound like that everyone on that field is confident.” Moustakas said. “We knew we were going into that dugout still tied. We knew we were going to have a chance to win that game in the bottom of the 10th because we had Jack out there. He does what he does. He’s arguably one of the best closers in the game. He shut it down. He held us there and Hosmer ended up with a big hit and we’re celebrating right now.”

Johnson struck out on three pitches to end the Rays 10th and strand three runners.

“All three (pitches) looked like hard four-seamers with a little baby cut to them,” Johnson said. “Soria looks like he’s throwing a lot harder than he really is. You look up on the scoreboard and see 92 and you think it was harder than that. He made three really good pitches to me. I’ve got to be ready to hit on those. They were way too close to take. I’ve got to take the bat off my shoulder and be ready to hit. I’ve got to do something. I’ve got to try to do something with that pitch and be ready to hit.”

Brandon Gomes (0-1) threw two pitches in the 10th and took the loss. Billy Butler singled to right to lead off the inning. Mike Aviles ran for Butler and scored on Hosmer’s double to left-center.

“I had a pretty good idea it was splitting (the outfielders),” Hosmer said. “With Mikey on first, I was just yelling for him to run, run, run, hoping he would score. I saw he got a good jump off the bat. This is definitely one of the bigger wins for us — to be down to the last out and the next inning first and second with Soria coming in and shutting them down.”

Alex Gordon’s two-out double in the bottom of the ninth scored Alcides Escobar to tie the score at 4-4.

Kyle Farnsworth, who pitched for the Royals the past two seasons, blew his fourth save in 23 attempts.

Desmond Jennings tripled, doubled, scored two runs and drove in a run for the Rays. Jennings, a highly touted prospect who was just recalled from Triple-A Durham, also, walked twice and stole a base.

Jennings led off the game with a triple and scored on Ben Zobrist’s one-out double off Royals left-hander Jeff Francis. The Rays could have added more in the first, but left the bases loaded on Kotchman’s ground out to end the inning.

Jeff Niemann left after six innings, holding the Royals to three runs, two earned, and seven hits, while striking out four and walking none. Niemann is 2-0 with a 1.32 ERA in four July starts.

Johnson tripled to lead off the second and scored on Jennings’ double.

Moustakas, who drove in the first three Kansas City runs, doubled home Butler, who had reached on an Longoria fielding error, and Hosmer, who had singled, to tie the score at 2-2 in the fourth. Moustakas’ sacrifice fly in the sixth scored Hosmer.

Zobrist and Longoria hit back-to-back doubles in the fifth to put the Rays back on top 3-2. With two out in the sixth, Jennings walked and scored on Johnny Damon’s double.

Francis, who is winless in his past seven starts, allowed three runs and nine hits in five innings, while striking out six and walking two.

— Associated Press —

While the Kansas City Royals’ offense was at its best, the momentum changed in the first inning when Luke Hochevar worked out of a big-time mess.

After allowing a run and facing a bases-loaded situation, Hochevar regrouped in the first and helped lead the Royals to a 10-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night. Melky Cabrera had three hits and drove in three runs and Billy Butler homered for the first time in six weeks to pace the offense.

“They load the bases and we got out of it,” Butler said. “In other games, we would not have got out of there with limited damage. That’s a good job by Hoch minimizing the damage and we came in and put some runs up and used that momentum shift for the rest of the game.”

Hochevar (6-8) allowed just one run in the first in what could have been a ruinous inning. He gave up a run on back-to-back doubles by Johnny Damon and Ben Zobrist to open the game and walked Casey Kotchman and Evan Longoria to load the bases with no outs. That prompted a visit to the mound from pitching coach Bob McClure.

Whatever was said appeared to work as Hochevar struck out Matt Joyce. B.J. Upton flied out to right fielder Jeff Francoeur, who threw out Zobrist at the plate for an inning-ending double play. Hochevar retired 11 straight batters after Zobrist’s double to pick up his first victory since June 26.

“I found myself in a jam in the first,” Hochevar said. “You’ve got to find a way to get it done and make quality pitches. I walked two guys in that inning, but then I was just bearing down and making pitches. I pop Upton up and Frenchy makes the catch and an outstanding throw. We’ve been doing that all season.”

That was the Royals’ 19th outfield assist on a runner out at the plate.

“I kind of hit a groove,” Hochevar said after the first. “I felt like I was commanding the ball on both sides of the plate. In the sixth, I fell behind two guys and made two mistakes. That’s what happens when you make mistakes when you’re behind in the count.”

Francoeur went 3 for 5 with an RBI and Eric Hosmer drove in a pair of runs with two hits as every Royals starter had at least one hit and Kansas City finished with 16 overall. The Royals have won three straight, one shy of their season-high longest winning streak.

The Royals scored three runs in the bottom of the first off Rays right-hander Wade Davis (7-7).

Alex Gordon and Cabrera led off the inning with doubles. After one out, Hosmer doubled home Cabrera. Mike Moustakas snapped an 0-for-22 skid with a run-producing single.

“Hoch did a great job on controlling that first inning,” Hosmer said. “It could have got ugly. He buried down and made some good pitches. We came out and had a big first inning. That’s all Hoch needed until that one inning. The bullpen took care of the rest.”

Butler hit his seventh home run in the third inning, his first since June 10 — a span of 116 at-bats. Butler added an RBI single in the Royals’ two-run seventh.

The Royals scored an unearned run in the fifth to hike their lead to 5-1. Francoeur doubled and scored when Moustakas hit a fly to right-center that Upton had in his glove, but right fielder Joyce ran into him and knocked the ball loose for an error.

Longoria and Joyce hit back-to-back home runs in the Rays’ three-run sixth, cutting the lead to 5-4, and chasing Hochevar. He allowed four runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings, walking two, hitting a batter and striking out two.

The Royals countered with three runs in the sixth, which included run-producing two-out singles by Cabrera, Francoeur and Hosmer.

“It was horrible,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said. “There was nothing we did good at all today. We let that one get away. That was not the Rays out there tonight. That was not us. We made too many mistakes.

“We came out good. Johnny and Ben hit doubles and all of a sudden we have the bases loaded and nobody out and we’ve got a run in, and all we get is one point. We’ve done that a lot. We have to do better than that. We didn’t do anything well tonight. Moving forward that can’t be a part of anything we do.”

Royals rookie Nate Adcock worked the ninth inning, the first time he has pitched since July 1.

— Associated Press —

Alex Gordon informed Kansas City Royals third base coach Eddie Rodriguez he was alert for a wild pitch with two outs in the 11th inning.

Gordon got what he was looking for.

Sergio Santos threw a wild pitch that allowed Gordon to score, giving the Kansas City Royals a 2-1 victory Wednesday night.

Billy Butler swung at a slider in the dirt that got away from catcher A.J. Pierzynski and Gordon raced home and scored with a headfirst slide to give the Royals their 10th win in the final at-bat.

“I told Eddie I knew they were going to pitch Billy tough with splitters and sliders,” Gordon said. “I told him if I get anything close to a wild pitch I’m going. Once I saw it get away from Pierzynski a little bit, I was off.”

Chris Sale (2-1) retired the first two batters before walking Gordon, who went to third on Mitch Maier’s single. Santos then replaced Sale.

The White Sox managed just five hits — four singles and Carlos Quentin’s home run — off starter Bruce Chen and relievers Joakim Soria and Aaron Crow.

“We win that game because of Chen and our bullpen keeps us in the game,” Gordon said. “They really won the game for us.”

Crow (3-2) worked two scoreless innings, allowing one hit, for the victory.

The Royals threatened in the 10th with runners on second and third and two outs, but rookie Mike Moustakas, who is in an 0-for-22 slump, popped up to second baseman Gordon Beckham to end the inning.

White Sox starter John Danks yielded five singles in seven scoreless innings and left with a 1-0 lead that the bullpen failed to hold. Danks walked one, struck out six and did not allow a Royals player to reach third base.

Danks was making his first start since June 25 when he left in the second inning against Washington with a strained right oblique and went on the disabled list. After starting the season 0-8 with a 5.25 earned run average, Danks is 3-0 with a 0.88 ERA in his past five starts.

Royals left-hander Bruce Chen held the White Sox hitless for the first four innings before Quentin led off the fifth with his 19th home run. Quentin hit a 1-0 pitch just a few feet inside the foul pole. Quentin was hit by a pitch from Chen in the second inning. He has been hit by 20 pitches, tops in the American League.

That would be the only run Chen would allow in eight innings. He yielded three singles besides Quentin’s home run, walked two, struck out four and hit three batters.

“Bruce was phenomenal,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He was in and out, changing speeds. Quentin hit a good pitch. He golfed it out.”

The Royals tied the score in the eighth off relievers Matt Thornton and Jesse Crain. Gordon led off the inning with a single, advanced to third on Butler’s single to center and scored on Jeff Francoeur’s double to center with one out. After Eric Hosmer was walked intentionally to load the bases, Crain struck out Brayan Pena. Sale was brought in to face Moustakas, who grounded out to Paul Konerko to end the inning.

The Royals have won two straight, but still have the worst record (40-58) in the American League.

“We’re too good of a team to be 20 games below .500,” Francoeur said.

The White Sox scored only three runs in 20 innings in losing the final two games to the Royals.

“This team is one day we’re good, three days we’re bad,” White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. “We don’t have any energy in the dugout. … We’re going to Cleveland and the way we’re going there, good luck. We’re wasting our money. That’s all I have to say. That’s the ballclub we have all year long.”

Juan Pierre’s bunt single in the White Sox sixth extended his hitting streak to 12 games, matching his season high.

— Associated Press —

Danny Duffy sat in the Kansas City Royals clubhouse before Tuesday night’s game against the Chicago White Sox and listened to manager Ned Yost challenge his struggling ballclub.

The gist of Yost’s speech was that being 20 games under .500 was simply unacceptable. Small errors were leading to big innings, and the young Royals hadn’t been able to atone for them. Yost needed someone to step up and put together the kind of performance that could give the entire team a significant lift.

Duffy took that talk to heart.

The 22-year-old left-hander went seven stellar innings in his return from Triple-A Omaha, keeping Kansas City in the game long enough for Matt Treanor to deliver a go-ahead two-run single in the sixth inning. The Royals went on to defeat Chicago 4-2 and end a frustrating three-game slide.

“I was really affected by what he said,” said Duffy, who was sent to Omaha during the All-Star break to pitch on regular rest. “We’re playing for more than just this team. We’re playing for the fans.”

Melky Cabrera homered and Alcides Escobar drove in the other run for Kansas City, which came into the game batting .196 while scoring eight total runs during its skid. But with Duffy (2-4) outpitching former Cy Young winner Jake Peavy (4-4), that meager offensive output proved to be just enough.

“He pitched a fantastic game right from the get-go. He was after it all night long,” Yost said. “He did a great job of changing speed, utilizing his curveball effectively and did a nice job of keeping them off-balance.”

Duffy hit the first batter he faced, walked the second on four pitches and allowed both to score. But he settled down after that shaky start and mowed through a lineup that White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen stacked with right-handed hitters for the express purpose of facing the left-handed rookie.

Duffy needed 64 pitches to get through the first three innings — and 30 total over the next four. He allowed five hits and two walks while striking out six, matching the longest start of his blossoming big league career.

“This kid threw strikes. He was good,” Guillen said. “He threw the ball very well. He threw more strikes after the first inning and got more confidence. He’s got a good arm.”

Greg Holland pitched a perfect eighth inning for Kansas City, and Joakim Soria worked around a single in the ninth for his 10th consecutive save and 17th of the season.

Peavy wound up taking the loss in what was still an encouraging performance.

The two-time All-Star had allowed 14 earned runs in 16 1/3 innings over his last three starts, two of them losses and one against Kansas City. Peavy had said he’s been slow to bounce back after surgery about a year ago to repair a torn muscle under his right shoulder, but his command seemed to return against a struggling Royals lineup that has failed to score more than four runs each of its last seven games.

“Everything was a little bit more crisp,” Peavy said. “I didn’t have great stuff, but I had plenty enough stuff to compete. There’s a lot more positive out of this start than there has been the previous three.”

Carlos Quentin and Alex Rios hit consecutive RBI singles in the first to stake Peavy to a 2-0 lead. His only blemish until the sixth inning came when Royals rookie Eric Hosmer singled in the second, Treanor hit a double and Escobar grounded out to drive home a run.

Peavy set the Royals down in order in the fourth and fifth before finally cracking.

Billy Butler singled with one out in the sixth and Jeff Francoeur doubled into the left-field corner to put runners on second and third. After a visit to the mound, Peavy intentionally walked Hosmer to load the bases for Treanor, who came through with a single up the middle to give Kansas City a 3-2 lead.

“It’s never a compliment when they walk someone to get to you,” Treanor said. “I just tried to stay centered mentally and see if I could get a pitch to hit, didn’t try to do too much and put it over the second baseman’s head.”

Cabrera’s two-out homer in the seventh gave the bullpen a bit of breathing room.

While the game turned into a defensive pitcher’s duel, it was a far from a flawless performance. Both teams committed an error and there were numerous baserunning blunders.

The most laughable came in the third inning, when Kansas City’s Alex Gordon got caught between second base and third. He tried to retreat to second and nearly ran into Cabrera, who had been on first and was trying to advance. The White Sox finally tracked down Gordon for the rare 2-4-5-6 caught stealing.

“That play was a mess all the way around,” Yost said.

— Associated Press —

Mark Buerhle lasted seven innings in another impressive start, and the Chicago White Sox capitalized on an error by young shortstop Alcides Escobar to beat the Kansas City Royals 5-2 on a steamy Monday night.

Buehrle (7-5) hasn’t allowed more than three earned runs in his last 14 starts going back to April 22, though his modest record doesn’t indicate how well he’s been pitching.

The veteran left-hander, in the final year of a four-year, $56 million contract, allowed five hits while winning for the first time since June 9. Buehrle struck out three and walked one while throwing 111 pitches in 95-degree temperatures. The heat index at Kauffman Stadium was 102 at first pitch.

Buehrle turned it over to Jesse Crain, who worked a perfect eighth inning. Matt Thornton retired the first two batters of the ninth before Sergio Santos wrapped up the win.

Kyle Davies (1-9) pitched about as well as he has all season for Kansas City and still got saddled with his eighth consecutive loss. The hot topic of local talk radio, Davies hasn’t won since beating the Minnesota Twins on April 13 and is 0-3 since going on the disabled list with inflammation in his right rotator cuff.

The beleaguered Royals starter set a career high with nine strikeouts in only 5 1/3 innings on Monday night. But Davies was pulled after 106 pitches when the 24-year-old Escobar threw the ball away while trying to start a double play on a routine grounder with the game tied in the sixth inning.

The ball zipped past second baseman Chris Getz and finally was corralled by first baseman Eric Hosmer, but not before Gordon Beckham and A.J. Pierzynski were standing on second and third.

Mark Teahan followed with a chopping groundout to first base that allowed Pierzynski to score the go-ahead run, and Juan Pierre followed with an RBI double that gave Chicago a 4-2 lead.

Beckham tacked on another run with an RBI groundout in the eighth.

The White Sox (47-49), coming off a 4-3 loss at Detroit on Sunday in which they blew a 3-0 lead, climbed back within two games of .500. Not bad for a club that started the season 11-22.

Kansas City (38-58), meanwhile, dropped a season-worst 20 games below the break-even mark.

Davies gave the Royals a chance, at one point getting seven straight outs with strikeouts. But he also allowed a leadoff triple to Pierre that turned into a run on Alexei Ramirez’s sacrifice fly, and another run in the third when Ramirez singled and came home on Paul Konerko’s double.

The only spot of trouble Buehrle ran into came in the fifth inning, when Melky Cabrera and Billy Butler drove in the Royals’ only runs. Chicago answered with a little help from some balky defense, dooming the Royals to another frustrating defeat in a summer full of them.

— Associated Press —